For fans of computer animation, two new books have hit the shelves: The Art of Pixar Short Films by Amid Amidi (hardcover, from Chronicle Books) uses essays, interviews, and artwork to take a look at Pixar’s groundbreaking shorts, from Andre and Wally B and Luxo, Jr. right up through Presto and Your Friend The Rat. Meanwhile, Imageworks by Michael Goldman (also hardcover, from Insight Editions) takes a look at the history of Sony Imageworks Studios, which brought us not only animated films like Open Season, Stuart Little (well, partly animated!), and Surf’s Up, but also the mad special effects on films like Spiderman and more.
Animation
Don Bluth’s Animation Tutorials
Animator and director Don Bluth (Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time, Titan AE) has a new web site, www.donbluthanimation.com. It not only features background information on Don and his crew’s many film projects, but also Don’s latest passion: Teaching would-be animators the ropes of the business. Several tutorials are available on the site, matching up with a series of how-to books that Don has released over the past few years. That includes character design concepts, backgrounds, in-betweening, and more, as well as how to work with modern computer graphics assistance.
